I titled this thread "shunyata venom USB should not be making this difference". There was some good discussion here.
In the interest of sharing our experience for the benefit of others, I'll share my latest thoughts. I was out of town from Thursday through Monday and have only recently had time to listen properly, once again.
IMHO, the Venom makes a beneficial difference in my system. I'd describe it this way. There is, on the one hand, better separation between the various instruments. That is, they sound a little bit clearer, easier to follow. On the other hand, there is also a greater sense of cohesion among the members of the ensemble. That is, things hang together better and make more sense, artistically.
A data point, for any who still are interested, is that since I was out of town and not listening for about six days I was not able to keep the humidity in my listening room as low as I normally do (below 50%). It's taking me several days to get it down from about 53%. It also means the Quads were left unpowered over this time. This means the Quads are not performing at their optimum. A symptom of this is an increased tendency to pop occasionally. This happens more with the Venom in the system than with the standard MHDT USB. Not sure what it might mean, but I hear it. Makes me think that with the Venom in the system it's increasing dynamics just a tiny bit, thereby causing the Quads to do their popping thing more. BTW, my comments regarding the Quads is not intended to be "the final word". It's just my experience. YMMV. And that's fine. My experience is that they sound better when I've been able to keep the humidity in the 40s and power them up for a while on a daily basis.
I doubt that this thread has changed any minds. That's fine. But I do think there would be a value in some of our stalwarts giving such an experiment a try. See how your actual experience compares to mine. Rather than your *theoretical* experience.